The Prophecy of the Golden Cat
by Thais of the Star
Summary: The Ancestors gave a prophecy to the three Tribes: when the fated cats appeared they would unite the Tribes peacefully forever. With the help of someone who sees more in her than she guesses, Dreamsong finds the destiny that will change everything.
1. Prologue: A Prophecy of Gold

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Enjoy!

Prologue: _A Prophecy of Gold_

It was long before the prophecy that caused Feathertail's death. Farther back in history than Sharptooth, or the words of StarClan, 'Fire will save the Clan'. The Clans of Shadow, Thunder, River and Wind were young. Stoneteller never knew of other Tribes in the mountains, for they existed long before the memory of his grandfather's grandfather.

Not even Midnight would have known of it.

There were once three Tribes under the Tribe of Endless Hunting, before they united. It took sacrifice on the part of one cat, and her willingness to disregard rule and tradition to follow her heart, to do what she believed was right.

Her blood flowed down through the generations to reach Teller of the Pointed Stones. But she did not know of it until she turned to the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

The cats of the Tribes had not yet discovered the inherited traits of prey-hunter versus cave-guard, for they as yet had no cave to defend, and each cat chose their own path. Her path was very different from any path any other cat had, for she was to unite three Tribes who had, until that point, associated very little and rarely acknowledged each other's presence except when they trespassed on other's territory.

000

A tabby queen licked her three new kits, warming them as their father stood by, smiling proudly. The dark gray prey-hunter nudged his three children, then licked his mate between the eyes; both of them purred and the Tribe's Healer, a creamy yellow-orange tom with a white chest, right front paw and tail tip looked on.

"Your kits are healthy and strong, Rainbow." he said formally, using Rainbow Shimmer Over Lone Star's short name. "Both of you are to be proud, Glint." Now he addressed the tom; each black-gray hair on Glint of Fire in Fierce Eyes body shimmered with a silvery-white tip.

"Thank you, Reflection." returned the strangely colored cat, and Rainbow nodded tiredly, her white-with-light-gray-striped pelt shifting as she moved slightly to lay down more fully. Her kits squeaked in protest; there was one dark-gray-and-silver-striped tabby, one pitch-black and a small golden kit. The golden she-cat' fur was more brown with the birth-damp.

Reflection in Pool of Moon Water bowed his head, then left the small nursery, where one kit-mother lay with a pair of large children and one with darker brown fur than her licked her four kits, their eyes not yet open. He thought bitterly on how he had tried to save Shard Torn From Clear Ice, but his sister Shard had lost to much blood to save herself, and it was all she could do to bid farewell to her son and Reflection, who had ever since loved his dappled gray-and-black nephew more than an ordinary tom might.

Shard's mate and Deep's father had died before having a chance to see his children born, and the little she-cat who was Shards' daughter had been still-born. So Reflection had taken Deep under his wing, and loved his as a farther. More than a father, though. Reflections' and Shards' father had been indifferent to his children.

Deep Water Where Shadows Swim bounded to his fathers' side; he was just barely a to-be, young and rather silly sometimes, but Deep could become serious in a heartbeat. He was also the most agile cat, when it came to slipping around to get medicinal plants, that Reflection had ever seen.

"Uncle! Snowwind says that she must look into the Dew Gathering Hollow! She says it's full!" he told the creamy yellow-orange Healer, speaking of the Leader, a she-cat with a black pelt. The young tom bounced beside his adoptive father as the pair made there way with the rest of the cats to the large rock with a hollowed-out place in the summit.

The black leader stood there, the silvery line that curved from her left ear to her left paw shimmering in the light of the bright moon, not quite full. She sat, and the assembled cats of the Tribe sat with her, waiting for what the Tribe of Endless Hunting would say to them.

Suddenly, Wind That Blows the Fresh Snow lifted her head and gazed at the moon. "The Tribe of Endless Hunting has told me their will." She paused, then looked down at the single pool. The rock on which she sat above the still, calm water held the reflected light, as did the bush that leaned over the pool, allowing the dew that gathered on its leaves to fall into the hollow.

Reflection thought that she looked eerie, sitting up there. The silver tracing of fur on her forehead glittered as she looked at the cats seated patiently about, on a level with their ear tips. Snowwind gazed at them, then spoke.

"The Tribe of Sunset Fire," she said, naming her own tribe, "the Tribe of Darkened Mountains and the Tribe of Soft Moonlight will join as one, when a cat who is as gilded as the rocks at sunset for which out tribe is named is found. She will have dreams of the future, and by this we will know her.

"This ability," she called over the cries of disbelief at the thought of the three Tribes joining, "this ability will be shared by one cat from each Tribe. The Tribe of Endless Hunting has shown all this to me, as they say they have shown the other Tribe Leaders. Once there were many cats- so many, that the tribes split asunder and became three new tribes, say the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Now there are to few, and this must be undone."

Reflection thought of the she-cat that Rainbow Shimmer Over Lone Star had birthed only that hour, one whose pelt was the color of the sun as it set.

"Is the time of Tribal Unity coming so soon, now that the Golden One has come?" he murmured to himself. Only Deep heard the Healer say this, and he never told any cat about the words his elderly uncle had whispered.


	2. Dreamsharing

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Two: _Dreamsharing_

Deep Waters Where Shadows Swim stretched, grumbling a bit as a cat shook him gently awake. The reasonably young Healer had dreamed of the Telling when he had heard the prophecy about the Golden One. Again he wondered if his father's words were about Rainbow Shimmer Over Lone Star's child, a young, slim cat named Dreamsong Foretelling the Golden Sunset. Dreamsong had grown up with her mixed light gray and dark gray tabby brother Eclipse in the Dark Night . Her black brother Fleet Shadow Darting Across New Snow had been killed by an eagle.

The Tribe of Sunset Fire had not forgotten the prophecy, but after time it had faded from the front of memory, and now many cats rarely discussed it, believing that it would not -could not- ever come to place. They saw the truce between the three Tribes under the Tribe of Endless Hunting as everlasting, permanent. Very few cats realized, now that many of them had taken to wearing mud to be less visible on the rocks, how truly golden, not brown-copper, Rainbow's only daughter was.

But Deep the tribal Healer and Snowwind the Leader had never forgotten. They had only put it aside for the present. He turned to the person who had woken him, and jerked wide awake. It was Dreamsong herself, looking confused and frightened.

"Healer!" she whispered. "Please, I need your help." She seemed so desperate that Deep finally followed her out of his small overhang, and into the open space surrounding the Dew Gathering Hollow's rock, where the prophecy had been told.

Twice had the seasons turned since then, Deep reflected. Two years had passed. So much had happened since that fateful night. His adoptive father Reflection had died, naming him as healer for the Tribe of Sunset Fire, and gone to hunt with the Tribe of Endless Hunting."

The Tribe was small, now. There were fewer litters than there had been in years and fewer kits in them. Without knowing it, he stopped, and looked over towards the nursery where he, Dreamsong and so many, many others had been born.

Would it soon be empty, with no kits or their mothers? Was the tribe doomed to a slow extinction? Deep looked up at the sky and prayed to the Tribe of Endless Hunting to keep these cats alive.

Then he shook himself and turned. It was too soon to worry about that yet. There were many in the Tribe, and he would make sure they had the best chance for survival.

"What is it, Dreamsong?" asked the Healer, leaping up above his overhang and inviting her up with a twitch of his tail. Her golden fur gleamed where the sparse mud didn't quite cover it and he was again, and he thought how lovely her pelt was in the early morning.

"I- I've had another dream," she said, shuffling her paws and remaining standing while twitching her tail around.

It was a dream that had given the she-cat her name, when she had told her mother blithely that there would be a very golden sunset that night, that she had heard a song telling of it in the night. "What was it about?" the Healer said, trying to hide his excitement. Another dream- she _had_ to be the Golden One the prophecy had told of! She sat, curling her tail around her paws and bowed her head, the looked up at the sky, a distant look in her green-brown eyes.

"I sat on a rock, next to a cat the color of moonlight and a cat with a pelt like the earth itself beside me. They were silent, so I kept quiet also. Then the silvery one looked up at the moon; it was in the sky and the sun was setting behind us- as we looked, it made the rocks golden. Under it was the shadow of the other side of the large hollow, and the rocks and dirt were in the shade. Then he looked farther up at the sky, and I looked too- clouds shaped like pure white cats ran with the wind around the sunset-gilded rocks."

Deep looked at the she-cat, but she still gazed up at the sky. "I understand Reflection now," murmured the Healer of the Tribe of Sunset Fire. "Yes, you are the Golden One." Dreamsong turned her head and looked at him sharply.

"What do you mean, Deep?" she asked, frowning, and he realized that she had heard him.

The black-and-gray mottled tom gazed at her for a long time. Then he told her of the prophecy that Wind That Blows the Fresh Snow had told there on the DewHollow Rock. He gazed steadily at her, admiring the shifts in her golden fur under the streaks of mud. He wondered privately why he should all of the sudden now appreciate her lovely pelt.

"Do you think I _am_ the golden cat?" she asked quietly, looking into his amber eyes.

"Have you taken a look at your fur compared to the others'?" Deep inquired dryly. The healer tried to ignore the shiver her gaze caused him, and thankfully she didn't notice it. "Not to mention your _two_ dreams of the future, or the timing of the prophecy's arrival- it did come the same hour you were born."

Dreamsong turned away slowly, absently thanking him, and leapt down distractedly. He watched her go, and shivered happily again at the mere sight of her. Again he wondered just why this young she-cat was affecting him like this now.


	3. Joining Dream

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Three: _Joining Dream_

The Healer treated cats all day, but his mind never returned far from Dreamsong. He didn't see her until around midday, when she came back to camp with a falcon and a mouse. She set them in the caught-prey pile and went out again for only a free moments, to return with a small eagle, likely very young. Deep tried not to stare at her, but she was so lovely and he had no cats to work with right now. He wandered over to her, seeing her about to head out again.

"You need someone to watch the sky. Perhaps we could hunt together?" he asked. His mother had been very adept at hunting, and he had inherited some of Shard Torn From Clear Ice's skills as well as his father's gift with herbs and other plants. Dreamsong smiled and nodded, then turned and lead the way up out of the pile of boulders by way of a path worn into the rock.

Through the hunt Deep Water Where Shadows Swim watched the younger cat. She was agile, and seemed more suited to twisting in the air and catching birds than to guarding the home the Tribe shared. Her mother was to, the healer remembered. Rainbow Shadow Over Lone Star was currently a kit-mother, retired to the nursery until Dreamsong's younger siblings were born. Glint of Fire in Fierce Eyes stayed there for most of the day, and Eclipse was better at guarding than hunting. Fleet had wandered off as a young to-be, and had been taken by and eagle.

True to his word, Deep had to call Dreamsong back from catching a rabbit when he saw an eagle beginning its' dive for her. He yowled, and the muddy golden cat froze for a split second before dashing back with him under a bush. The she-cat's pelt was fluffed, and the dried mud was only on the tips of her fur, making it seep very spiky. Deep hesitated, then slid over to her and groomed her neck fur, calming Dreamsong.

The younger cat calmed as the healer continued to run his tongue over her pelt. It smoothed slowly. Deep tried to ignore his racing heart and quickened breath, but being near the golden cat was almost intoxicating. At last she pulled away gently.

"Thank you, Deep." she said. Her eyes were filled with gratitude and sad memories of her brother Fleet's death at the claws of an eagle.

He shrugged, and turned out of the bush. "Let's go collect that rabbit and your mice. I think it would be best if we returned home," he said, using his tail to point out the oncoming darkness. "And I want to give you something that will help you sleep tonight. A dose of bad memories often causes sleepless nights."

When they deposited the caught-prey in the pile he turned to his overhand and she followed. He gave her some herbs, then told her to go sleep and to tell him if she had any more dreams.

Deep stayed awake in his moss-, grass- and feather-lined bed-hollow for a long time. Like the Tribal Leaders, who needed to be agile and unattached by blood to each member of their tribe, healers were forbidden from having kits, before or after they were elected. But was that what he wanted with Dreamsong? Though Deep did not fully know why he was attracted to the young golden cat, he knew that she was important to him in a way that no she-cat had ever been.

Each shift of the sun on her pelt was like magic to him, and she seemed so graceful.

Finally, when the moon had risen high and the stars were all out, Deep curled up, tucked his tail over his nose and fell asleep.

000

Dreamsong wondered why Deep had wanted to stay with her, why he had shown such friendship for her today. It took her long to get to sleep, and when she did it was to dream of something that was as confusing in it's own way as Deep's behavior today.

_The waterfall that roared beside her sent up a spray that coated her fur, making it heavy to her. The she-cat watched as cats, each one streaked by mud so that very few of their pelt's colors could be made out beneath, filed beside the rushing water, and disappeared. There were elderly cats, kit-mothers with their clean-furred children walking with them, carried by the she-cats of carried by others depending on size and age._

_She felt a sense of pride- why? she wondered. Why would she? What had these strangers to do with her? Then she saw Deep Waters Where Shadows Swim walking behind a cat whose pelt was gold with streaks of mud. "You've done it, love. We are split no more," he whispered in the cats' ear. Dreamsong wondered why he had addressed the cat as 'love', and felt strangely jealous._

_Then the she-cat turned, looking almost right at Dreamsong. Her eyes were puzzled, and then she smiled, shaking her head._

_"Yes," the she-cat mewed to Deep. "We are one Tribe."_

Dreamsong started. The golden she-cat was so familiar it frightened her awake, and she lay that way for some time, wondering what it meant, this dream.

She shivered, and not just with the cold, and wriggled her way farther down into her bedding. The stars had started to fade by the time she fell asleep again, and she knew she would remember the dream for a long time to come.

Because the she-cat she had seen had been herself.


	4. Farewell to a Leader's Dignety

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Four: _Farewell to a Leader's Dignity_

The next day, Deep spent all of the morning and a portion of the afternoon with a kit-mother, helping the young orange and white tabby deliver her first litter, four gray kittens, two male and two female, of varying shades.

When the proud, exhausted new mother fell asleep with her tail curled around her litter, Deep went outside and stretched. He saw that Snowwind was returning with another middle-aged cat; each of them toted a large bird, and the heavy-set, black-and-white-patched she-cat also had a mouse.

He went to assist them get the hawk down the steep slope, then the small falcon. When the tribe's Leader nodded to her friend turned to Deep, who had not moved from her side, the healer twitched his tail, inviting her into his overhang.

Snowwind followed. When they were settled, Deep told her of his thoughts that Dreamsong was the Golden One. "I am certain of it," he concluded. "Her dream of the golden sunset came to pass, and she seemed almost in a trance when she spoke of her second dream."

"It is possible. Definitely she is golden, though not all see it." The leader herself had coated her black pelt in mud, carefully caking it on the silver streak that was blotched just between her eyes; it was very visible, reflecting even the scantest light. Snowwind stared off into the distance for a moment, then blinked, twitched her tail and looked at the healer. "She will come to you if she has another dream?"

Deep nodded.

"Then tell me when she does, if she does. We will know, if she has one more dream, that she is the Golden One." The black cat blinked softly, then confided in her healer. "I have not wished to see cats so alike so segregated. It shall be a blessing to know that we travel safe through the mountains, that no other cat will attack."

He nodded again, bowing his head to her as she returned the salute. Snowwind paused at the cave's entrance. "And I think it is time you take a to-be to teach, Deep. You have been our healer for many years and it is time for you to pass the responsibility on."

Deep was speechless, and he could only nod deeply to his leader. She must have seen that he wished that as a healer he could take a lover, and had given him the perfect opportunity to! There was a short, two-part cry of pain and statement; he raced to the front of the cave, and stopped, trying not to laugh.

In a tangle of dazed fur lay Dreamsong, her muddy gold pelt shimmering against the black-with-mud fur of Snowwind. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" cried the younger cat, struggling to her paws and helping her leader up with her shoulder. She must have raced full-tilt into the other she-cat, and knocked them both to the ground.

Shaking his head, Deep sighed and helped the disgruntled black cat stand. "So what is so important that you had to bowl me over to say?" asked the thankfully uninjured leader, but she smiled to take the edge out of her words.

"I-" Dreamsong's green-brown eyes flicked to Snowwind, the Deep and back again, clearly uncomfortable.

"Actually, I see that this is a healer-tribesmate occasion, so I excuse myself to go salve my wounded pride at being knocked over like a frozen rabbit by my own fighter." She smiled and looked carefully out of the cave entrance before leaving with comical caution, and called over her shoulder. "I'll se if there are any older kits who would want to train with you, Deep."

As soon as she was out of ear shot, Dreamsong burst, telling him about her dream of the strange cats disappearing behind the waterfall and that she had seen a golden cat and a grey-and-black cat. She told him what they had said.

"He seemed to love her, and was proud of her," the muddy golden cat concluded. "I thought it seemed that she loved him as well."

"Do think this is another of your future-visions?" he asked after a pause.

"Yes." She said firmly, then hesitated. "But- Deep? This isn't just the third I've had. Over the years I've had at least one a week, but sometimes closer together and sometimes farther apart. Most of them happen soon after a Pool Reading." She confessed. "And they always come true eventually, unless some one, me or anyone else, tries to influence the outcome."

"Really?" he asked, startled. She had to be the Golden Cat! "What are some of them?"

"There have been small ones that no one really would make sense of; I've had dreams that just tell me when a kit-mother will birth, and if any of the kits will be special. Sometimes There I they tell me about who is successful at bringing down hawks, and things like that."

As she spoke, Deep recalled that several times she had warned cats to be careful, or to remember to look up, or suggested hunting spots. "I only told you about the one two nights ago because it seemed too important to keep to myself. And I've already told you of the one just last night."

The gray-and-black cat looked at her, then got up and licked her cheek. "Don't worry about the dreams," he whispered in her ear, and she purred in gratitude. He felt happy just being able to be near her. "They will come to pass without your help. One thing I've learned, being healer: never rush a vision or hurry a sign."


	5. Meeting at the Watterfall

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Five: _Meeting at the Waterfall_

"I have already told Snowwind of your visions, though, Dreamsong,. I thought she ought to know, having been the one prophesizing you birth." Deep and Dreamsong had decided to hunt again; they needed to get away from the other cats of the Tribe of Sunset Fire. The golden she-cat only nodded, then continued searching for prey, her green-brown eyes far away.

Suddenly she looked up at the healer. "What did Snowwind mean when she said she would find a to-be for you to train?" she asked. Deep made a face.

"She thinks that a cat will just appear out of the skies and announce itself as the next healer. No, I will wait until the right cat has come. The Tribe of Endless Hunting will let me know when my successor arrives," he said.

_And I can turn to my heart without leaving the path of the healer that the Tribe of Endless Hunting has laid down._

000

Dreamsong wondered vaguely why the dreams were coming so frequently, and why were they more important now as she slid into one.

She seemed to be standing in a cave, with many pointed stones coming from ceiling and floor. Distributed between them were pools that reflected the moonlight that shone through a hole in the roof of the cavern.

Beyond what seemed to be the entrance and exit she could hear water, lots of it, falling in a continuous flow. She turned, feeling called to a particular pool, its surface nearly white with moon- and starlight, and padded over to it. As she gazed into the depths of the silvery water, she saw on the edge of her vision many other cats, glimmering silver as the pools, come to circle her and the water.

She raised her head slowly, sensing no hostility from the newcomers. One came forward.

"Look," commanded the shining tom, dipping his head to touch his nose to the pool. As Dreamsong obeyed, the cats spoke in one voice, though each was distinct within the words spoken from each throat.

"Follow the call, Dreamsong. At the end you will find out other messengers. None of you will need to persuade your Tribes to unite, for the Tribe of Endless Hunting sends dreams to each healer and leader, and they will hear us and obey."

Now the pool shimmered, and she saw the two cats from her dream, the earth-pelted one and the moon-pelted one, sitting with a golden cat. Dreamsong recognized herself and drew back with a gasp.

"They will be there, as will we," intoned the ranks of glittering cats. The picture changed, showing the meeting place in more detail. It was the rock from her dream of the gold sunset, the white clouds, the fading moon and the shadowed earth and stone.

"When you wake, follow the trail of the fallen star, and you will find them," chorused the ancestors as they, the pools and the cavern faded.

"We will be waiting," whispered the cats of the Tribe of Endless Hunting once more in the darkness.

"We will wait."

000

The golden cat woke, gasped and sprang to her feet. She raced outside just as a shooting star burned over the sky, marking the dawn with a trail.

Dreamsong turned her head, not surprised at all to find that Deep Waters Where Shadows Swim was awake, as was Wind That Blows Fresh Snow.

The tree of them stared at each other somberly, and then Snowwind nodded, giving permission to the unspoken request in the other two's eyes. Without a word, the gray-black healer and the golden she-cat raced up the rocks, bounding off in search of the meeting place.

It was nearly midday when they found the hollow, with a water fal rolling down one side. They could see that a brown and gray mottled tom was already sitting patiently on top of the rock in the center of the hollow, though he was facing the other way from the pair.

Here Deep stopped and sat. Neither had spoken on the way, but they had come to an unvoiced agreement that Dreamsong was to go down alone.

She made her way down into the hollow, then leaped on top of the rock, making the earth-pelted cat spin with his fur fluffed up until he saw her pelt and knew her for the second member of the prophecy.

They were not waiting long when the silvery-white cat leapt up beside them. The other two nodded, and he nodded back, then sat with his tail curled around his legs. Finally, the earth-pelted cat spoke. He seemed to be older that Deep, thought Dreamsong absently as he started.

"My name is Feathers of Earth on Fur, or Feather."

"And I am Dreamsong Foretelling the Golden Sunset,; Dreamsong," added the golden she-cat. "

The moon-pelted tom, who seemed to be just a little older than the only she-cat said that he was Silver Flash Racing the Wind's Path, or Silverpath for short, of the Tribe of

"Look!" cried Feather, as soon as the silvery tom said his name. The other two whirled around, prepared for anything, but it was no enemy, as they had feared. The vision that Dreamsong had twice received from the Tribe of Endless Hunting was now a reality. The shadowed earth, the moon and the glow of the sun flared once, then the picture broke apart as the moon and sun moved out of position.

"So. The three tribes will at last join as one in peace," whispered Silver.

"Now do we go to our own Tribes, and tell them of this place," added Feather, looking around the hollow, the waterfall, the stones, pebbles and wave-broken pool beside the rock on which the three cats sat.

The three of them left for their own tribes, to tell them of their fate.


	6. Searching for Something in Plain Sight

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Six: _Searching for Something in Plain Sight_

"We must leave?" cried a kit-mother, wrapping her pale brown tail protectively around her two black-and-white kits.

"Leave our home, to join with the other tribes?" asked a gray-silver tom loudly, his short fur bristling under the covering of mud.

An elderly red-brown tom retorted staunchly that he had followed Snowwind all his days and would follow her even if she wanted to live in an eagle's nest.

"Quiet, all of you!" screeched the leader of the Tribe of Sunset Fire. She cut through the protests to her decree that they would become as one tribe with the Tribe of Darkened Mountains and the Tribe of Soft Moonlight. Very few of the cats would disobey their leader, but many were not happy about the changes to be made.

When the mass of cats was silent she continued. "Our ancestors have sent us the promised cat, the Golden One," she said with a flick of her tail at Dreamsong, who stood proudly beside Deep on the rock that housed the Dew Gathering Hollow, "and we will not be blind to their summons. We will meet with the other two tribes at the large hollow where the Three met. From what they say, it is ideal for housing us all.

"Two days after tomorrow we leave for our new lives." Snowwind finished, then leapt down, as did the healer and the golden she-cat. Once again the dark gray healer admired her pelt, and wished for a sign that he could find an apprentice and follow his own heart.

000

It was early morning the day before they were to leave. Deep wandered through the place where he had been born. He knew it was right to leave it, knew that it was what the Tribe of Endless Hunting had decreed, but it still hurt.

Here was the nursery where he had been born, so long ago it felt like an eternity. There was the rock where his uncle Reflection had always loved to sit and feel the sun on his fur. The paths worn smooth into the stone by countless generations who ran with the Tribe of Endless Hunting now. Were they as sad as he was to leave? Did they watch with sorrow, hope or anger in their hearts?

And yet again, as he passed through all the memories like cobwebs against his fur, was this the right choice and had they truly found the right home for the three tribes to become one?

Was the Tribe of Endless Hunting watching them?

A pair of old kits, one yellow-orange tom with a white chest, tail tip and right front paw and the other a gray tom with a sprinkling of black flecks, raced out of the nursery. Their mother, a black, white and gray-striped tabby, chased after them and her remaining kit, a she-cat whose fur was splotched black and white, came dashing out of the entrance.

The kit-mother grabbed her two sons, and nosed them back to the nursery while the black-and-white she-cat followed, a smile on her face as she dashed around after mother and brothers. Deep watched them.

Suddenly, a small gray bird darted into the hollow. In a swift movement, the small female kit leapt on it and dispatched it skillfully with a bite, though she was only twice its size. Her mother glanced at her, shepherding her sons down the tunnel and froze.

"Oh, dear! What are you doing?" she asked her kit, and the young, black-and-white she-cat ran up to her, purring, with her prize firmly held in her jaws. "However did you catch that?" asked the kit-mother, surprise and pleasure in her tone and eyes.

"They're easy, mother!" the proud huntress declared, then asked eagerly, "Can I eat it?"

"Well. You caught it…" said her tabby mother. "Oh- come back here, you!" she cried distractedly as her orange-yellow son raced off again- this time straight for Deep.

The healer took a step back as the kit skidded to a halt in front of him, lightly bumping into his front legs. Kit and healer stared at each other. Deep could not take his eyes off the small tom. Why, he was the very image of Reflection, Deeps' uncle and the former healer for the Tribe of Sunset Fire!

He was also not afraid, merely excited and a little breathless from his adventure. Deep hardly heard the kit-mother calling her son, telling him not to bother the healer. Finally, when the kit looked away at his mother, the spell was broken from Deep. "Wait, please," he asked the tabby she-cat, and trotted up to her as she waited patiently next to the nursery. "This may sound odd, and a little abrupt, but I don't know how to put this better. You kit" –he gestured with his tail to the right one– "looks to much like Reflection in Pool of Moon Water for it to be a coincidence. I believe that, if he chooses, he should become the next healer of this tribe."

When he had finished the tabby was staring at him. Her kits, all three nearly too old to still be in the nursery, gazed at him with identical expressions on their faces. According to the laws of the Tribe of Endless Hunting, each Healer had to have a to-be to train, for help with difficult procedures and also to ensure that, if anything incurable happened to the healer, his or her apprentice would be able to take over from him, and it would not be left to chance for the next healer to be chosen who knew how long of a time span later.

"I must take an apprentice, because I believe that we will have need of two medicinally knowledgeable cats. My heart tells me that you son is the right cat," he told the gray tabby, who closed her jaws, swallowed and nodded slowly.

"Never had I dreamed that this honor would be bestowed upon one of my kits," she said quietly, slowly. "What of it?" she asked her kit. "Do you wish to be a healer and learn to speak with the Tribe of Endless Hunting? to see the signs everywhere?"

Slowly the young cat nodded and walked out to Deep, his even eyes fixed on the healers' own, and sat, turning to gaze once more at his brother, sister and mother for both the last time as a kit and the first time as an apprentice healer at the same time.


	7. To Be a ToBe

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Seven: _To Be a To-Be_

"Is it your choice, of your own free will, without prejudice, bias, influence, persuasion or threats, to become the to-be of and be trained by Deep Waters Where Shadows Swim in the profession of Tribal Healer?" asked Snowwind solomly. She sat on the rock housing the pool that had been the Tribe's link with their ancestors, looking down at Deep and the nameless kit at his side. Now was the ceremony that would forever change the course of the young cats' life, at which he accepted Deep as the sole cat who would teach him the work of a healer.

Unlike the to-bes who would become regular prey-hunters and others, he would have only one teacher, rather than having all of the more senior cats teach him. Deep hoped that this tom, scarcely old enough to become a to-be, would be able to find words fitting, for as each new healer-in-training accepted the position, and later the title of full Tribal Healer, he or she had to make a suitable pledge, in his or her own words, to the tribe.

Drifting back, Deep remembered a different ceremony, when he had been taken under Reflection's paw and began his training. He had stood up on the rock, seeing his tribe look at him expectantly, and froze all through his gray-black fur. Eventually, at a nudge of his yellow-orange uncle-mentor-healer, he had spoken from his heart, simply, but it was from his heart and soul and gut that he spoke.

"I willingly and proudly take on the task of apprentice to the Tribal Healer, my uncle," and he had leapt down. Then Reflection had gotten up and given a grand speech, through which the then-unnamed Deep had tried to hide with embarrassed pleasure, of his nephews' skills.

And then he thought sooner back in time, to the night when he had become a full Tribal Healer. He had given a short speech then too; listing instead of the names, as was proper, of those who had come before him, he had given the names of each tribe member who was alive because of his uncles' gift with medicines. That night the tribe had not been sobered to hear the names of great healers whose paw prints he hoped to follow in, but had instead heard of live cats who he meant to learn from almost as much as he had Reflection.

With a jolt he realized that the orangey-yellow nameless tom had affirmed his place with only a single, eloquent, elegant bowing of his head, and had leapt up to the rock to begin his speech.

"As have the healers in our tribe and in other tribes, for countless generations, accepted the role of to-be to the Tribal Healer, so I accept it now, in the name of each spirit ancestor. I swear by the Tribe of Endless Hunting and by the single tribe we are to become that I will do everything in my power to give each member of us a healthy life."

The young tom leapt down and Deep purred at him with an approving smile. Though the words were simple, he had spoken them with power beyond his years, and the tribe had listened respectfully.

"Well said," he quietly praised his new apprentice. "Now let us see what your name is to be, my to-be," he added jokingly. The younger tom looked at him, startled, then relaxed and smiled, purring slightly. He seemed a little self-conscious of the power of his short speech.

"Thank you," he mewed back

The leader leapt back up, her black fur rippling in the moonlight, and echoed Deep's words; "Well said. Cats of the tribe," she called to the cats assembled beneath her in the darkness of the night, "listen to me now and hear now the name chosen by the Tribe of Endless Hunting for this young tom who has found the path for his life." Snowwind paused, gazing briefly into the pool of dew.

"From this moment, this cat-" she gestured with her tail to the nameless tom below her "-shall be known as Discovery Hidden From Average Sight. Discovery- we, the Tribe of Sunset Fire, hail you as trainee healer for us."

Deep purred, and the newly-named Discovery's mother came racing over to him, his two siblings following, and touched noses with him, "Oh, I'm so proud of you!" the tabby kit-mother exclaimed, and his sister nodded, while his brother did likewise.

"Now, cats of my tribe, there is another ceremony to consider," Snowwind raised her voice above the congratulations of the cats. "for there are two more cats we must honor in their turn- Discovery's sister, and his brother." The two young cats jumped, and spun around, eyes wide, and their mother purred even harder. "Come, stand before the stone," invited the black leader, the blotch of silvery fur on her forehead shimmering. Now she spoke with the ritual words.

"Do you both choose to honor the ways of our tribe, to put the tribe before yourselves at all costs, to defend the weak, old and young, against all hurts and problems and to live under he code that the Tribe of Endless Hunting has set down for us?" she asked, and the stunned young cats nodded. "Then I great you by your names: you-" she flicked her tail at the black-and-white she-cat "- will now be known as Imprint of Raven's Wing on Clouds, and you-" she gestured to the gray-with-black-flecks tome "-are to be called by Rain-Dappled Still Waters."

Looking at the two newest to-bes, Deep saw that the she-cat had a patch of black on the white that was in the shape of a bird's wing, while it looked as if Raindappled was a gray cat caught in a light rain, turning tiny patches darker colored. He stepped forward to great them, and renewed his congratulations to Discovery, his own to-be.

As soon as the young apprentice healer was ready and both of them confident in his skills, Deep meant to turn over his duties to the cream-orange tom.

And for the love-struck cat, it could not possibly be soon enough.


	8. The Journey to Home

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Eight: _The Journey to Home_

Toms, kit-mothers, she-cats, leader, healer, kits, to-bes- all filled by ones and twos slowly out of the home they had shared together for countless generations. The scents of cats known and unknown lingered there, as if their owners' spirits were calling a last farewell to their kin.

Dreamsong looked out over their home, the only home she had ever known, in silence. Deep stood beside the golden she-cat, and felt his heart wrench to leave this place. Each cat in the tribe felt the same pain, and each cat knew that all the others did.

As the last cat, Dreamsong's dark gray tabby brother Eclipse, the she-cat suddenly let out a yowl. Within her cry was a tone of triumph, as if she had just won a battle, and yet under it was a sorrow that made each cats' bones ache, and regret. Deep lifted his head and added his voice to hers. As the cry resounded through the rocks, each cat, from kits so young they would never remember their home, to the eldest cat, who could barely even speak through age.

It was a roaring, screeching tribute to their home, their lives and traditions, their hopes and dreams. The cry was a lament to all that had been lost, but most of all, it was the battle cry of those who would go to battle and death simply for what they knew was right, even if they could see it was hopeless.

And the heart of every cat filled with a fierce joy as the cry died away.

000

For a pair of fleet runners, the journey had take a few hours. With kits, elders and pregnant she-cats, they were still traveling as the sun began to set. When they came to a rocky set of overhangs, Snowwind leapt to the top of a large boulder and Dremsong sat at the base with her at a flick of the black leaders' tail, silhouetted by the sun. The golden she-cats' fur blended perfectly with the sunset; she had allowed the mud to fall off over the past few days.

"We shall rest here tonight," called the black cat, and gestured with her tail to the overhangs. "The elderly and young shall have the farther-back places, as shall Singingheart and Shred." She gestured to the two she-cats with large, kit-bearing bellies. "Those in their prime shall shelter them as best they cat without getting unduly wet themselves," she added as a drop of rain splattered onto her ear and she shook it out briskly.

Snowwind leapt down and followed her own orders, escorting Shred, deep orange and very kit-swollen, under one of the rock overhangs and sheltering with her. Other cats followed her example.

Dreamsong went to search out her mother, Rainbow Shimmer Over Lone Star, and Deep trotted to her side as she spotted the white-and-light-gray-stripped tabby. Together the two younger pair helped the elderly she-cat to lie down under an overhang. As it was large enough to shelter all three of them against the rain that splattered the ground now, they huddled together for warmth as the clouds opened up in the now-dark sky.

000

Just after dawn, the Tribe of Sunset Fire woke as one to find that a separate group of cats had padded down the slope.

Wind That Blows the Fresh Snow got up and greeted the blue-gray tom who was the leader. He introduced himself as High Moon Dancing Above the Crystals of Ice, or Moondance; the leader of the Tribe of Darkened Mountains.

The pair ordered their cats not to harm anyone, and though the hostility was visible in the eyes of many cats, especially the toms, they obeyed. "We are one Tribe now, along with the Tribe of Soft Moonlight

Among the newcomers, Dreamsong saw, was the earth-colored tom she had met with, and had several dreams of- Feather. He didn't see her, so she stayed with Deep.

Around sun-high the clouds dissipated, and the sun started to dry out the set ground. Suddenly, a cat not of the two, now one, tribes leapt off a boulder, and racked his claws down the wing of an eagle. None of the single tribe had seen the predator bird when it had started it's headlong dive at a young to-be with white, gray and orange fur which had formerly been coated in mud but was now only patched with spiky parts.

The eagle shrieked as it beat its wings furiously, and the to-be huddled in fright with his fur puffed out. His rescuer, a tom with a white-silver pelt, landed beside him with a thump. Dreamsong recognized Silverpath, from the Tribe of Soft Moonlight, as he bent to lick the younger tom's ears comfortingly. Other cats, apparently from his tribe, filtered out from around the rocks uncertainly.

Their leader, a she-cat with what appeared to be brown-black fur so streaked in mud that its actual color could scarcely be made out, made her sedate way over to Snowwind and Moondance. She said she Ivyspray, short for Spray of Green Ivy Twining Around Rock Spires. The third tribe melted smoothly with the other cats.

Dreamsong saw that the Tribe of Endless Hunting was lucky that the tree Tribe-Leaders were not as actively violent against the others as previous leaders were. Had less spiritually-dependant, sensible, sturdy cats been in charge, the whole idea of joining the tribes might have been firmly put away behind the cats.

_Or was it just luck?_ wondered the golden she-cat as she walked beside her mother and Deep. Had the Ancestors planned for these three to be in charge? It was to confusing for her to puzzle out on her own.

Suddenly, Feather called out to the rest of the Tribe. "Here we are!" he said, and Drreamsong raced to join him at the entry to their new home together.


	9. A Prophecy Fulfilled

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Nine: _A Prophecy Fulfilled_

The leaders, Ivyspray, Moondance and Snowwind, and the Ancestors' messengers, Feather, Silverpath and Dreamsong, went down first to explore the hollow, and then the cave behind the waterfall. None of the cats seemed to realize that each was thinking the same thing: how had they known this would be the right place to bring the newly-formed single tribe?

Deep thought,as he waited for them to return, that the Tribe of Endless Hunting must have told them, even if though didn't quite know how. When Discovery Hidden From Average Sight came up to him he smiled at the yellow-orange tom. "Quite different than from the life you thought you'd lead, isn't it? None of us ever thought, even after the Prophecy of the Golden Cat, that we'd truly become one tribe under our Ancestors."

Discovery looked troubled. "I know," he answered in quiet agreement without sitting down, and hesitated as if he wanted to say more to his teacher. "Um- Deep?" he began falteringly. "I was thinking maybe you could start to teach me about some medicines? One of the other to-bes has gotten a cut from a rock, and I don't know how to help her."

For a second the healer wondered how he could go back and fetch the many herbs and plants he had been forced to leave behind, and then remembered that perhaps some medicinal growing things he knew would be growing here too.

"All right," he agreed, to Discovery's obvious relief. "Show me our patient."

It was a brown-black she-cat called Harsh Gravel Filling Dry Pools –Gravelpool– who had the cut. Deep looked at it, gently pushing her fur away from the, fortunately, shallow scratch. He only needed to clean it, and showed his trainee how to. Discovery set to work licking it, once he knew how but he instinctively knew how anyway and needed only to be reminded to keep her fur away. Gravelpool stayed still while the tom doctored her scratch.

When the healer was absolutely sure his young apprentice knew the precise way to clean the small wound, he looked around to find a cat willing to come with him on a quick run to bring at least some of his things back when they were settled in their new home. Instead, he saw that Dreamsong and the rest were ushering the single tribe down the hollow by way of an easy path on the sides.

The golden she-cat glanced over at Deep, and they smiled at each other. He came over to help her with a kit-mother and her little ones, after telling Discovery and Gravlepool to stay there.

"What did you find? Can we use it for a home?" he asked Dreamsong in an undertone as they watched two toms escort an elderly third down the crude ramp.

"It is perfect," the she-cat whispered back. We have a cave with many pools on the floor and spires of rrock from the floor and ceiling where I had my dream. We can see the Tribe of Endless Hunting there, so I know we did the right thing moving here. And there's- oh!" she interrupted herself, "just come and see for yourself Deep! Here we can be one tribe fully! I know it"

"We can live here, Deep. Now we begin becoming one tribe. Who knows how long it will take, but we will be one tribe!" The power in her voice was staggering, and the light in her shinning eyes was eager and excited. "We can live here as the Tribe of Endless Hunting meant us to before we separated. We can _live_. Together."

"Then come on," he told her with a reckless expression, leaping down the rocks. He knew what the future was, and it was a good one. "Let's go se, together, " said Deep Water Where Shadows Swim as Dreamsong Foretelling the Golden Sunset followed him down the slope.

And so was the Prophecy of the Golden Cat fulfilled and the Tribe of Rushing Water begun.

Looking into her eyes, the healer knew Dreamsong's legacy of peace would endure for generations. And who knew? Perhaps some in the next generation would be theirs.


End file.
